On World Youth Day last year I had a rare evening off so, with no time to prep or scout a location, I grabbed the camera bag, jumped in the car and headed to the nearest water (alright I already knew I’d be around the Greenwich area).

It’s just coincidence that it was World Youth Day. There were hundreds, probably thousands, of people at the docks (off to the right out of frame). I had a long lens (80-400mm) with me but the shots of the docks area were boring. However, as I waited for some better light (the sun was starting to go down behind me) I noticed the moon was rising in the east. This was great timing because the sky was starting to turn a terrific magenta colour with the setting sun, and after a couple more minutes the sun had set, it was now “blue hour”, the moon was now behind the Sydney Harbour Bridge, and was still low enough that it looked quite large.

I did bring out the colour a little more in post and added a little local contrast to the clouds. But this is how the scene looked to me at the time. There’s nothing in this frame that wasn’t there in real life.